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Moravian TvIission 



ALASKA. 



J. TAYLOR HAMILTON. 



.E^H 



3^ 



THE COMENIUS PRESS, 
BETHLEHEM, PA. 



Exchange 

West. Res. Hist. Soc. 

1015 



THE BEGINNINGS 



MORAVIAN MISSION IN ALASKA. 



God in His providence lights the torch of missionary 
zeal in ways unforeseen by men. Count Zinzendorf is 
present at the Capital of Denmark for the Coronation of 
King Christian VI, and a negro, Anthony by name, a 
Christian slave, gives the impulse which leads to the estab- 
lishrnent of the first foreign mission of the Moravian 
Church — that on the Island of St. Thomas. John Eliot is 
possessed of the idea that the Indians of North America 
are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel ; and this in- 
ner conviction is for him a call constraining him to become 
their apostle. The British and Foreign Bible Society, a 
mighty engine for generating the electric light of gospel 
knowledge, takes its start from an overpowering hunger for 
the Word on the part of a poor girl in an obscure village 
of Wales. And so, too, the commencement of a 'Mora- 
vian Mission in Alaska was quite unforeseen by the mem- 
bers of that Church until within a year of its actual incep- 
tion ; and the call came from an unexpected quarter, was a 
Macedonian cry from another denomination of Protestant 
Christians. 

At the annual meeting of the Moravian "Society for 
Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen," held on 
August 23, 1883, at Bethlehem, Penna., its President, the 
late Bishop Edmund de Schweinitz, communicated a letter 
from the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D.D., of New York, then 
Secretary of the Board of Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church,' in which he urged the establishment by the 

'Now Territorial Superintendent of Education in Alaska. 



Moravian Church of a mission in Alaska among the In- 
dians and Eskimos. The writer considered the Moravian 
Church to be especially fitted for this much-needed work, 
in view of the long experience of Moravian missionaries in 
evangelizing tribes of degraded savages; and stated that he 
had unsuccessfully applied to other denominations on be- 
half of the neglected heathen there, who are supposed to 
number about 15,000. 

The Society, whose organization dates back to the year 
1787, having favorably entertained Dr. Jackson's appeal, 
and the approval of the Board charged with the general 
management of the Moravian Missions having been ob- 
tained, the authorities of the Church in America appointed 
the Rev. A. Hartmann, Moravian missionary among the In- 
dians in Canada, and Mr. Wm. Weinland, a member of 
the graduating class of the Moravian Theological Seminary 
at Bethlehem, Penna. , to undertake a tour of exploration 
in the Western part of the little known territory of Alaska. 

A passage was secured for them on the U. S. Revenue 
Cutter Corwin, various officials connected with the Marine 
Revenue Bureau and the Coast Survey expressing their in- 
terest, and stating that the Government would welcome all 
the information the explorers might be able to gather about 
the inhabitants, flora, fauna and geological features of West- 
ern Ala.ska. 

On reaching San Francisco, their credentials and recom- 
mendations secured them a most courteous reception from 
the officers of the Corwin, Lieutenant M. A. Heely, com- 
manding. In the "Alaska Commercial Company " they 
found a very friendly corporation, its officers treating them 
most kindly, and giving them letters to their agents at var- 
ious places with instructions to help the missionaries in 
every way possible. 

The vast territory of Alaska, purchased from Russia m 
1867 by the United States Government, comprises the 
whole of the Continent west of 141° west longitude and 
also numerous islands along the Coast. Its extreme length, 
from north to south is iioo miles, and its greatest breadth 
from east to west is 800 miles, the entire area being esti- 
mated at 514,700 square miles. Its coast-line, owing to 



5 

the frequent indentations, is greater than that of the east- 
ern coast-line of the United States, beine; 7,860 miles in 
length. Its chief river, the Yukon, which rises in British 
territory, is another Mississippi for length and volume of 
water. Mighty mountains extend along the southern and 
western coast, out into the peninsula which gave the terri- 
tory its name, some of them volcanic, and many capped 
with eternal snows. The climate of the southwestern part 
is comparatively mild, owing to the warm current of the 
Pacific, which also causes an excessive rain-fall. The wis- 
dom of the purchase of the Territory as a financial measure 
has already been strikingly vindicated in the revenue de- 
rived from the monopoly of the catch of seals. The 
abundance of fur-bearing animals ; the salmon and other 
fish that teem in its rivers ; its primeval forests of cedar, 
spruce, larch, fir, cypress and hemlock and the deposits of 
coal and iron and other minerals that have been discovered, 
promise to render the value of the Territory yet greater when 
its resources shall have been more fully developed. Its cen- 
tral and northern portions remain as yet a terra incognita for 
the most part. The Indians who trap the animals in the 
interior are described as treacherous and discontented, where 
they have come in contact with whites; the Eskimos along 
the coast of the west, northwest and north, on the other 
hand, appear to be good-natured, though degraded and 
very superstitious. Their belief in evil spirits and witch- 
craft renders them an easy prey of the "shaman," who 
figures among their tribes as does the " medicine -man " 
among the Indians. 

Steaming out of San Francisco on May 3, the Corivin 
reached Ounalaska on May 16, and thence the explorers 
proceeded in the Dora, a steamer belonging to the Alaska 
Commercial Co., across Bering Sea to the mouth of the 
Nushagak River in Western Alaska. Here they found a 
Greek Church whose priest claimed the district of the 
Nushagak and Togiak Rivers as his parish. Hence they 
proceeded in the ship to the Kuskokwim River, at the 
mouth of which they arrived on June 12. 

Up this river they traveled for about 150 miles in two 
large bidarkas, skin canoes each seating three persons, being 



paddled by natives. Their interpreter was a Mr. Lind, an 
agent of the Alaska Commercial Co. The natives they 
found approachable, very superstitious, very filthy, very 
loose in their estimate of the marriage relation, but kindly 
disposed, and on the whole honest, having very few posses- 
sions to tempt cupidity or prompt to theft, and living in 
utter disregard of the most ordinary laws of health, so that 
lung diseases and scrofulous affections appeared to be very 
common. The land seemed to be flat, sandy soil on either 
side of the river, and was covered with tundra, a sort of 
mossy peaty bog, though wooded mountains appeared in 
the distance. 

Retracing their way overland with the frequent use of 
bidarkas to Nushagak, the return voyage to San Francisco 
was made by the explorers in a sailing vessel, the Sadie F. 
Caller, without special event ; and on September 25 they 
reached Bethlehem in safety, recommending that a mission 
station be founded on the Kuskokwim, about 75 miles from 
its mouth. 

The Spring of 1885 sees a company of missionary pio- 
neers in San Francisco, en route for Bethel, as this projected 
station is to be named. They are the Revs. Wm. H. 
Weinland and John Henry Kilbuck,^ recent graduates of 
the Moravian Theological Seminary, with their wives, and 
Brother Hans Torgersen, a practical carpenter, who goes 
with them as a lay -missionary for one year or longer to as- 
sist in establishing the Mission. He has left his wife at the 
Canada Indian Mission, where he has hitherto been engaged. 
They charter a schooner, the Lizzie Merrill, to convey them- 
selves and their building material and supplies to the mouth 
of the Kuskokwim, taking with them a small sail-boat, the 
Bethel Star, with which to navigate that river. Weighing 
anchor on May 18, they leave the schooner on June 19. 

And now let the narative of Brother Kilbuck tell of the 



'^ Great-grandson of the Delaware chief, Gelelemend, born 
1737 near Lehigh Gap, Northampton County, Penna., baptized 
in 1788 with the name WilHam Henry, after Judge Henry, the 
Congressman, from whom he had once received a great favor; 
died a devoted Christian at Goshen, Ohio, in 1811. 



heavy blow which fell upon the inexperienced young couples 
before their work was fairly begun : 

"As soon as we had unloaded our goods, and made our- 
selves comfortable, the Brethren Weinland and Torgersen 
proceeded with a boat-load of lumber to Mumtrekhlaga- 
mute, in the vicinity of which we had determined to estab- 
lish our first Mission. In due time the brethren returned, 
and we loaded all our provisions, and on the evening of 
July 3, we all started upon the last stage of our journey. 
Delayed by storms and calms, we did not reach our desti- 
nation until July 13. We were heartily welcomed by Mr. 
Lind, the trader at this post, and most hospitably enter- 
tained, until we were able to provide suitable accommoda- 
tions for ourselves. On the evening of the 14th we selected 
the site for Bethel, which was a gentle rise about one half- 
mile west of the trading post. The place was chosen in 
the evening; and we knelt upon the tundra, led by Brother 
Torgersen, dedicated in prayer that spot unto the service of 
the Lord, and committed our plans and whole future into 
His hand. The remainder of the week was spent in un- 
loading our boat, storing our goods, erecting our tent and 
a small frame building, 12x14 feet, which now serves as a 
work-shop and store-house. 

A difficulty now presented itself, which caused us much 
thought and anxiety : we found our lumber to be very wet, 
and we well knew that we could not hope to build a Avarm 
house with material in that condition. It was a serious 
question, how to proceed ; whether we should abandon the 
idea of building a frame house, and proceed, at once, to 
gather logs, and erect a log building large enough for com- 
fort, or endeavor to make the best possible use of the 
material on hand, and not run the risk of being without 
good shelter, when Winter sets in. The Lord guided us in 
adopting the latter alternative. For Mr. Lind offered us 
the use of the Kashima, belonging to the post, for drying 
our lumber. We gladly accepted the offer, and set to work 
piling in the Kashima what lumber we had here. Quick 
hot fires were made morning and evening, and after the fire 
was put out, the building was entirely closed. In this way 
we hoped to get the lumber reasonably dry. With the help 



8 

of a native, Brother Torgersen made a third trip to the 
mouth of the river, for more lumber. Favored with pro- 
pitious winds, the entire trip was accomplished in four days. 

Brother Torgersen and I left Bethel, July 28, after a 
fourth load of lumber, while Brother Weinland was to do 
what he could towards getting logs for the foundation, in 
addition to looking after the lumber in the Kashima. About 
this period we had great need of the strengthening power of 
faith. Brother Torgersen and I experienced one difficulty 
after another; were exposed to a pitiless storm for three 
days; and finally, August 10, when within sight of the sta- 
tion, Brother Torgersen fell overboard, and, before help 
could reach him, was drowned. I informed Brother Wein- 
land of what had occurred, and asked him to come to my 
assistance. He sent word that he was sick in bed and 
therefore could not come. Owing to a calm, I was unable 
to proceed any farther, and furthermore, my eyes, which 
had been inflamed, now, that I was compelled to use them, 
became worse, and the pain almost unbearable ; so accord- 
ing to instructions, I anchored the boat, made everything 
snug, and then getting into the birch canoe with a native I 
went home. 

The meeting at home was sad, for we truly felt the hand 
of the Lord, but He granted unto us faith to look to Him 
for comfort and strength. The following day I went in a 
bidarka to the scene of the accident, and with the help of 
natives, dragged for the body, almost the entire day, but 
without success. It was not until five weeks after, that the 
body was found. It had been carried down an unfre- 
quented channel, and cast upon an island and it was only 
by accident that it was discovered by a native. The re- 
mains of Brother Hans Torgersen now lie in peace on the 
summit of a hillock, to the west of the Mission House, 
from which can be seen the place, where according to his 
wish he died while upon the Lord's battle-field. "Who- 
soever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's the 
same shall save it," is the promise of Him, to whom Hans 
Torgersen clave with all his strength." 

The situation was indeed serious. Two young men, ut- 
terly inexperienced in house-building — the one, Weinland, 



having spent all his life at school, in college and in the 
seminary, the other, Kilbuck, a full-blooded Indian, who 
had as a lad left his home in Kansas to be educated in the 
church school at Nazareth, Pa., thence to take the classical 
and theological course at Bethlehem — with their brides of 
a few months, face to face with an arctic Winter, and not 
having a roof over their heads ; Kilbuck, moreover, suffer- 
ing from an affection of the eyes that at times almost 
blinded him ; the material which they had brought for the 
construction of a house in such a condition from the fre- 
quent rains, that they doubted whether they could use it ; 
and, to crown all, both of them able to communicate with 
the natives only by "sign language," except for the aid of 
Mr. Lind, the trader at the "post" of the Alaska Commer- 
cial Co. Less heroic souls might have searched for some 
possible means of a retreat. Not so, these missionary 
couples. They dry their lumber as best they can in the 
Kashima which Mr. Lind kindly places at their disposal. 
They erect their dwelling accordmg to the best of their 
ability ; and it is taken possession of by them on October lo, 
having consecrated a neighboring hillock a few weeks before 
by the committal to its earth of the body of the elder 
companion on whom they had leaned and whose loss they 
so deeply mourned. Yet there was Another in Whom a 
more complete dependence was placed, for they write con- 
cerning this time of test, " You see that we can say, ' The 
Lord is our Helper.' " 

Thus their surroundings are described by them : 
" The station is about 70 or 75 miles from the mouth of 
the river, and about one half-mile west of the Mumtrekh- 
lagamute trading -post. The location is as healthful as it 
can be in Alaska, being on rather high ground, about 
twenty-five feet above river, and no swamps in the immedi- 
ate vicinity. The country to the west and northwest is 
open tundra, while there is a considerable pinery to the 
north and northeast, which serves as a break to the winter 
winds. To the east we have the river and wooded islands, 
and in the distance the rugged mountains of Alaska can be 
seen. To the south is a channel of the river, and a large 
thickly wooded island which protects us from the heavy 



10 

south' winds. Good water is near at hand, an arm of the 
river being not more than sixty yards from us. Besides the 
above advantages we have the following, which have a direct 
bearing on our future work. Being near the trading - post, 
we get to see a great many natives from villages up and 
down the river, and on the tundra. The location is central. 
Taking a two days' journey with a dog-team as a radius, 
we form the center of a circle, within whose limits may be 
found a population of 1200 natives, according to the lowest 
possible estimate." 

The Winter, which soon set in, was unusually severe. 
In October neighboring lakes were like rock in the grasp 
of the arctic cold ; and though warm waves at intervals 
made the climate more endurable, it was the end of May 
before the river was clear of ice. Meantime medicine was 
practiced amongst the natives, whose language formed a 
constant study, and religious services were statedly main- 
tained. In short, the Mission was being established. On 
January 10 Elizabeth Louisa Weinland was born, the first 
white American child in the Kuskokwim District. 

Meantime it had become evident to those charged with 
the administration of the Mission, that a station should be 
founded at Nushagak also, in order to secure more frequent 
communication with Bethel, there being five salmon-can- 
neries at the mouth of the former river visited several times 
a year by sailing vessels, whilst Bethel could be reached 
only twice a year. For this undertaking the Rev. 
Frank Wolff and wife, of Greenbay, Wis. , volunteered ; 
and their services being accepted, the former was sent in 
the Spring of 1886 to San Francisco to get together and 
have prepared materials for a mission-house and school, in 
such a way that the work of erection might proceed as 
rapidly as possible after they had been transported to 
Alaska. Greatly assisted by Christian friends, and receiv- 
ing particular kindness from the president of the Arctic 
Fishing Co., Mr. Rholffs, whose vessel, the Sadie F. Caller, 
under tlie command of the same Captain who had brought 
the Brethren Hartmann and Weinland back from Nushagak 
in 1884, was to transport him and all his materials gratis, 
Brother Wolff sailed on July 17, reached Nushagak on 



II 

August 21, located the Mission, and with the aid of the 
men of the above-mentioned Company put in place the 
31,000 feet of lumber and 20,000 shingles, so that the 
building, 24x28x9 feet, could be locked and entrusted to 
the care of the native chief on September 8. The Arctic 
Fishing Co., through whose kind offices this expedi- 
tious result was rendered possible, placed the Moravian 
Church under a lasting debt of gratitude. Says Brother 
Wolff: "They in the first place made no charge for pas- 
sage-money or freight on all the lumber from San Francisco 
to Nushagak. Nor did my return trip cost me a cent ; for 
board, both ways, was free. In the second place, they 
charged only the actual cash outlay for the workmen's help. 
In the third place, they not only boarded myself and the 
workmen, free of all expense, while at Nushagak ; but they 
supplied all the native assistants with free food, and one 
must have seen a native eat in order to form a just idea of 
what this item would amount to ! Besides all this, was the 
constant kindness, which can not be reckoned in dollars 
and cents." 

His return journey was speedy and prosperous, so that on 
October 1 1 he was enabled to report in person at Bethle- 
hem to the Board of Directors of the Society for Propa- 
gating the Gospel the successful carrying out of the instruc- 
tions received in Spring. 

On the tenth of May, 1887, a missionary party consisting 
of the Rev. Frank Wolff and wife and Miss Mary Huber, 
of Lititz, Lancaster Co., Penna. — the latter, one of several 
lady volunteers — left San Francisco with the steamer of the 
Alaska Commercial Company for Nushagak by way of 
Ounalaska; and on their safe arrival at their destination, 
were able to send the welcome news that they found the 
Carmel Mission-house, as they named it, together with the 
many articles that had been stored there, untouched and in 
perfect condition. 

Meantime the Winter of 1 886-1 887 had been one of 
severe trial for the little company at Bethel. School had 
been opened on September 8, 1886, and on the following 
Lord's Day a Sabbath-school had been commenced, both 
of which were steadily maintained. Severe lung troubles, 



12 

however, incapacitated Brother Weinland much of the time 
from active work, and it soon became evident that the 
cUmate would prove fatal to him if he remained. There 
was no other way than for him to return with his family, 
who had also experienced severe sickness, in the Summer 
of 1887. A specially unfortunate feature was, that it would 
be impossible to communicate with the authorities before 
his arrival in San Francisco, and too late therefore to send 
out re-enforcements before Winter to Brother and Sister 
Kilbuck. Hard though it would be for the latter couple, 
the inevitable had to be recognized. 

Nevertheless, some progress had been made. During the 
Summer of 1886, a second house 28x24 feet had been con- 
structed out of logs rafted at four different times down the 
river, the last lot from a very great distance. The scholars, 
too, had made surprising progress, and by his constantly 
increasing knowledge of the Eskimo Brother Kilbuck had 
been preparing the ground for harvests of souls. Except 
on but few Sabbaths natives had always taken part in the 
services, and several had expressed a desire to know more 
of the teachings of the missionaries and were looking for- 
ward to the time when their tongues should be "light." 
The Christmas celebration with its lighted tree had made a 
great sensation throughout the whole district. 

At length, however, there came the day of sad parting, 
when the ship of the Alaska Commercial Company, weigh- 
ing anchor at the mouth of the Kuskokwim, bore away 
from the Kilbucks their only helpers, shattered in health, 
the hearty explorer of a few years ago broken down, it 
might be, for life.^ 

A weary, weary time must the early part of the Winter 
of 1887 to 1888 have been at the lonely out-post of civil- 

3 It is a satisfaction at this date, February, 1890, to be able 
to write that Brother Weinland and his family gradually 
regained soundness of health on their return to the States, in 
i88g were sent to labor amongst the Indians of Southern Cali- 
fornia, and are now beginning to reap a harvest of converts 
in the Ramona Valley rendered famous by Helen Hunt Jack- 
son, their work at Potraro and Saboba having promise of a 
very hopeful future. 



13 

ization and Christianity on the Kuskokwim. Work enough 
there was to do. At times troops of natives covered with 
boils, the heritage of a period of semi-starvation, clamor 
for salves and medicines; the school must be taught, its 
seventeen children clothed and fed — often washed, or even 
disinfected, when first received ; there is a log-house to be 
built with native help ; there are heavy parental anxieties 
about little Katie, the missionaries' child, and sometimes 
the utter cruelty of the unfeeling heathen is such that it 
would depress any except the stoutest-hearted. Here is an 
extract from the missionaries' Journal : 

" Some one tied a helpless little child of about two years 
down to the water's edge at low tide. Its cries attracted 
the attention of a passer-by, who found the water already 
nearly up to his neck. The man took it to his home and 
took good care of it. It was recognized as a Neposkiogamute 
child, whose mother had died, the father leaving it in the 
care of an old woman at Mumtrekhlagamute. The child 
is sickly and doubtless was too much of a care for her. 
The only surprise that people have about it is, that any one 
should want to drown or kill a boy; their girls are often 
killed, but seldom a boy." . . . '• At the mouth of the 
river, an old woman was cut up into small pieces by a man, 
who supposed he had lost his children through her witchery. 
Some time ago quite a prominent native brought an 
aunt down here. She was insane, and he was her only 
living relative. This man wished to leave her among 
strangers, and tried to bribe them to kill her. He was 
finally compelled to take her back to his home. We heard 
the other day that he deliberately froze her to death." 

Yet the brave couple, though sometimes in ill-health, 
labor on undaunted. In spite of 30 degrees below zero, 
Brother Kilbuck will walk twenty-five or thirty miles to 
plan for the erection of chapels at two other villages. At 
one time, his nose and lips are frozen ; at another, a blind- 
ing snowstorm meets him on his way home. There must 
sometimes be contests with the "shamans" who threaten 
him with their " black art." 

But dawn is at hand. Day breaks soon after the darkest 
hour. At Christmas the interest taken in the "old, old 



14 

story " by natives from far and near, gives promise of the 
light. Signs of morning are in the zenith, and soon the 
earth itself will be glorious with its effulgence. Moreover, 
through the mercy of God, the memory of it shall ever be 
associated with the memorial of the first bitter disappoint- 
ment and grievous anxiety. 

It is the Holy Week. Daily services, such as are cus- 
tomary throughout the Moravian world, have been com- 
menced on Palm Sunday. Twice or even thrice a day 
there have been natives who are willing to listen for an 
hour and a half to two hours at a time to what of the lan- 
guage the missionary can command. It is Good Friday. 
He has reached the crucifixion, and is explaining that the 
blood shed by Jesus Christ on the cross was for the taking 
away of all sin, when some of the older men (praise God !) 
exclaim " Kou-ja-nah ! (Thanks). We, too, desire to have 
our badness taken away by that blood." 

It is Easter Sunday, at day-break, and forty people have 
gathered about the grave of Brother Torgersen. They 
sing, in the native language, three hymns of the Resurrec- 
tion. It seems the message, that He died for our sins and 
rose again for our justification, is balm for the wounds of 
the hearts of Eskimos, as well as of the Caucasians who 
have sent the messenger and of the Indian messenger who 
brings them the glad tidings. They leave the grave, hav- 
ing sung, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." 

A number of natives soon apply for membership in the 
Church — some have already months ago hinted at such a 
desire, before they realized the full significance of this 
step. A period of instruction and probation follows, and 
on September lo, 1888, eight are gathered in as the first 
fruits of the Moravian Mission amongst the Eskimos in 
Alaska. 

And yet they were not strictly speaking the first fruits. 
For at Carmel, on April 22 previous, a German sailor of 
about forty-five years of age, Louis Giinther, who had been 
left in charge of the property of the Arctic Packing Com- 
pany at Nushagak, and who had been led by the missionary 
to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, had been con 



15 

firmed by Brother Wolff after careful instruction in the 
faith. 

Here the work had been mainly of a preparatory nature. 
The house and school had to be fitted internally for the 
long and severe Winter, so that little missionary work 
proper was done before Christmas. Then, however, a 
school was opened, with the design of making prominent 
industrial features of instruction. The one drawback to 
success, apart from the difficulties of intercourse from an 
ignorance of the language, was the persistent opposition of 
the priest and the deacon of the Greek Church at Nushagak, 
who did not scruple to use fair means or foul to thwart the 
endeavors of the missionaries. Nor is there lack of labor 
in curing the physical ailments of those who come to the 
Mission-station, as to a hospital, with broken limbs, ulcers, 
running sores, boils or severe lung diseases. 

Turning once more to Bethel, the heroic family there 
were not to pass another Winter entirely alone. On May, 
12, 1888, the Rev. Ernest Weber, of Gracehill, Iowa, who 
had volunteered and had been ordained for service in 
Alaska, left San Francisco, and arrived at his destination 
on June 16. 

He is soon quite at home in his work, his arrival making 
it possible to hasten the erection of the log-house planned 
for a school and chapel. His impressions of a native " re- 
ception " at a village up the river, visited by him in search 
of logs, are full of graphic interest. He says : 

"In the evening, the natives at this village had one of 
their dances, for my especial benefit. It is laiore of a feast 
than anything else. They had a great many berries; 
and as they did not have any clean dishes for me, they 
turned my hat inside out and filled it up for me. It is sur- 
prising how many some of them can eat; often half a 
gallon of salmon-berries. They also had their ice-cream " 
and sour fish-heads, and dry fish. They had two young 
women to dance. I wish I could make you understand 
how it was. First the folks get everything ready. They 
stretch a cord all full of dried birds across the room, and 

* Water-ice ? 



i6 

stick them up everywhere. They have small birds on the 
cord and large ones on the wall, such as large owls. Then 
the boys and young men all get down in the middle of the 
room * * with sticks in their hands. They have two 
tambourines to beat time on. Then the women come in, 
all fixed up in grand style. One had a sharpened stick 
through her nose, and was all covered with beads. Then 
the singing began. It seemed more like an Indian war- 
dance to me than anything else. The women would make 
all kinds of motions. They kept good time, and I must 
say it looked rather graceful. The boys keep time with 
their sticks. They do not strike anything, but just make 
motions. It lasted till about ten o'clock." 

At the beginning of December, he takes Brother Kil- 
buck's place as teacher in the school, for the latter on the 
third of the month starts off with a dog-team for a five 
weeks' visit to Carmel, where he would confer with the 
missionaries about their work. But though man may pro- 
pose, it IS God who disposes. The difficulties of travel 
and the heavy rains so prolong the journey thither, that 
Christmas has passed before he reaches the other Mission- 
station. Then, terrible storms and intensest cold delay the 
return. Seventy-three days elapse before he reappears at 
home, like one risen from the dead, " his hair and beard 
long and his face all covered with black spots where it had 
been frozen." It had been a miracle that he got through 
with his life. " No wood often but green willow brush to 
burn, and very little food to be gotten for his teams of 
fifteen dogs." Meantime his wife, worn out with over- 
work at home, had been seized with serious illness, and was 
confined for several weeks to her bed. Her feelings during 
the time of trial are thus recorded in a letter not written 
for print : 

" Days and weeks went by. The weather was fearfully 
bad. One storm raged after another, with scarcely a day's 
intermission. We began to think seriously, when we re- 
membered how much of his road lay among the mountains 
where there was no wood and where no natives lived. The 
thermometer showed as low as fifty-nine degrees below zero 
which is ninety-one degrees below the freezing point, and 



17 

most bitter cold it was I can assure you. The snow was 
never seen half so deep in all our stay in Alaska ; and yet 
as time, long, anxious time passed on, he did not come. 
The thirty-five days he expected to be gone were long past. 
Forty, fifty and sixty days were also gone and everybody 
began to hint to me that I must live without him. He 
never could or would return again. They said it was 
beyond all reason for him to be gone any more if he was 
still well and alive. Mr. Lind said, and I felt sure of it 
myself, that he would send us word, if any accident had 
occurred to detain him. 

The days dragged heavily and seemed a week long, each 
of them. From this time on we felt that each added day 
only proved the reality of our fear. Sad indeed were the 
faces that greeted us at every turn, and sadder still our own. 
With hopeless despair we would turn from the window, 
that in spite of our fears held some magic attraction. We 
soon learned to not expect him even if we did look and 
look around the island's head, where he would first appear 
when he did come. 

We had not forgotten the Source of all comfort and 
peace, and to Him we joyfully fled for consolation and 
grace to bear, what seemed to us, a burden too heavy for 
us. We were not disappointed in this kind and loving 
Friend. Our prayers were most abundantly answered, and 
as soon as we were willing to say "Thy will, not mine," 
the blessing came in a tenfold measure. How calm and 
peaceful were our troubled hearts then. We wondered at 
the grace that was poured out upon us daily and hourly. 
Never before did I feel the nearness and dearness of my 
Saviour so thoroughly. The future and its duty was plainly 
set before me. Brother Weber and I talked of plans for the 
future, and I promised to stay here as long as I could be of 
any use in the work. This seemed to be of much encour- 
agement to him, for he was not willing to give up, and 
wished to stay working on, hoping that some one might be 
sent to Bethel this Spring. Our constant prayer was that 
the people of our Province would not, when they heard 
of the Mission's loss, become discouraged and slacken in 
the work of supporting and cheering the workers in this 



i8 

important and promising field of labor. We ourselves were 
willing to remain and work on, to the best of our ability." 

What joy attended the return of the one considered lost ! 
Says Brother Weber in his diary for February 14, 1889: 

" When we least expect it, the Lord answers our prayers. 
This morning, about eleven o'clock, we saw two large teams 
come around the island. But we had so completely given 
tip Brother Kilbuck, that I did not think of him. When 
I saw them, some of the boys said, " Who is that ? Let's 
get the glass." Pretty soon they said they believed it was 
Brother Kilbuck. Then we all looked ; but were afraid to 
say it was he, for fear we should be disappointed. 

Mr. Lind was here. He said it was he. Pretty soon he 
waved his hand, and then we knew it was he ; and words 
can not express the joy that we felt. Mr. Lind and I ran 
down to meet him. Mrs. Kilbuck and the children were 
standing by the house, waiting. And it just seemed as if 
Mr. Kilbuck had risen from the dead. I do not believe 
we should have felt happier if he had." 

And the happiness of return was celebrated in a pecu- 
liarly blessed way, on the 24th of the month, by the addi- 
tion of ten of the scholars and four adults to the Church. 
The former, in the presence of a large number of their 
heathen relatives, boldly came forward and confessed their 
faith in Jesus. 

The visit to Carmel had proved a very opportune one. 
The opposition of the Greek priest had thus far been most 
trying. On Thanksgiving Day a special dinner had been 
prepared for the scholars; but all except those who boarded 
in the Mission-house were ordered away by this spiritual 
tyrant. Again, at Christmas, the projected entertainment 
was rendered a comparative failure by similar manceuvers. 
Besides the comfort of sympathy at such a time, the ability 
■of Brother Kilbuck to speak the Eskimo was a marvel and 
a stimulus to emulation. 

But the memorable visit to Carmel served yet another 
purpose. It made it possible to send tidings of the Winter 
m letters by the kind offices of Lord Lonsdale, an English 
nobleman who was about to close an adventurous tour in 
Arctic regions, which were received at Bethlehem, Pa., in 



19 

February instead of in July as liad been customary. Al- 
ready the conviction had been deeply fixed in the minds of 
the Directors of the Society for Propagating the Gospel 
that additional help should be sent to both stations, and a 
call had gone forth for volunteers. Now, it appeared as 
though the brave woman who had so long toiled to the ut- 
most of her strength without female help at Bethel, might 
be compelled to return home, for a time at least. The 
news sent a thrill through the American Moravian Church. 
At least nineteen volunteers came forward for service in 
Alaska. Two were selected. John Herman Schoechert, 
of Watertown, Wisconsin, who was subsequently ordained, 
was appointed to go to Carmel ; and Miss Carrie Detterer, of 
Riverside, New Jersey, a daughter of a former pastor of the 
Moravian congregation there, was choseii for Bethel. In 
addition, the wife of Bishop Henry T. Bachman, one of 
the Provincial Elders of the American Moravian Church, 
offered to go to Bethel for one year, with her youngest son, 
so as to give Mrs. Kilbuck the rest she so much needed. 

Accordingly this new company of missionaries sailed 
from San Francisco on May 15, 1889, parting at Ounalaska, 
to arrive safely at their respective destinations about a week 
apart in June. Cheered by these reinforcements, the mis- 
sionaries at either station could look forward to the new 
year of work with hopeful courage. At Bethel, health had 
been restored to Mrs. Kilbuck, so that her absence from 
her post was not required. About twenty children were at- 
tending the school, when the last letters were sent home. 
The little congregation numbered twenty-two, not counting 
the missionaries. At Carmel, the absence of the Greek 
priest, who had left for San Francisco, rendered labor more 
agreeable, though there was felt to be great lack of suitable 
accommodations for the scholars and for the new missionary. 
During the Summer the ministrations of Brother Wolff to 
the men of the canneries seemed to be not wholly resultless. 
Two of the girls of the school were moreover candidates for 
membership in the Church. The total number of scholars 
last October was thirty-one. 

Such is the past of the Moravian Mission in Alaska. A 
great deal of the work has not yet developed into figures 



20 

and statistics, having been largely of a preparatory nature. 
Yet it has been of such a sort that blessed results may be 
expected before long. Obstacles had to be removed, the 
ground broken, the seed sown, and then comes the blade, 
the ear, and the harvest. It takes years to break the ground, 
to acquire the language, to translate the Scriptures, establish 
schools, and to get the good seed sown into the minds and 
hearts of the people. As the Rev. J. Liggins says : "The 
true method for judging the result of missionary labor is not 
that which regards it like a prairie fire, that sweeps rapidly 
over the plains, devouring all within its range, and so swiftly 
dying out ; but rather as a mighty silent influence, like the 
quiet, steady forces of nature, which carry the seed and 
deposit it in the soil, nursing it with sunshine and with rain 
year after year, until an oak springs up and reaches out its 
growing arms over the sod, and in time scatters the acorns, 
until a mighty forest waves its majestic boughs, where once 
were rocks and thistles." 

The plans of the missionaries are comprehensive and 
definite, anticipating success. The request of Brother 
Wolff for 30,000 feet of prepared lumber to build a larger 
school-house and chapel at Carmel has been granted by the 
Board ; and this material will be sent from San Francisco 
this Summer. Brother Kilbuck's suggestion, on the other 
hand, can scarcely be acted upon before an official visita- 
tion has been made, to judge of the field. Meantime, 
however, additional volunteers for Bethel are being asked 
for, to anticipate and prepare for any move. Besides, it is 
contemplated, if possible, to send two promising young 
Eskimos to Pennsylvania, to be there prepared for evan- 
gelistic work among their own people. The following is 
the plan of Brother Kilbuck for further operations, just 
alluded to : 

" The Lord has put it into our hearts, to make the fol- 
lowing suggestion to our brethren : Start a Mission-Station 
at Togiak Bay. 

Why ? For the following reasons : 

a. The Togiak valley is a field as distinct as either Nush- 
agak or Bethel. This field can not be reached easily 
from either of the two stations. A station at the mouth 



21 

of the Togiak River will command its entire length, 
and will be able to reach natives, in number next to 
those on this river. 

b. By placing a Mission-station at Togiak Bay the gap 
that is now between Nushagak and Bethel will be closed 
up, and we will thus take possession of a territory rich 
in souls. Furthermore, working hand in hand, each 
station will become a support to the others, and to- 
gether as a phalanx they can storm the interior. Con- 
tinuing the military figure, it is of the utmost impor- 
tance to the success of the work, that one general 
should command the forces between here and Nusha- 
gak, under our great Captain. The manual of arms, 
and the marching tactics will then be the same \ hence 
there will be no confusion. 

c. A school can readily be gathered together. For in 
the village of Togiak there are fifty children of school 
age. The people there recognize the importance of 
educating their children, but are unwilling to send 
them either to Nushagak or Bethel, because it is too 
far from their homes. 

d. A vessel comes right into the bay, and the goods are 
landed by her boats, as at Nushagak. 

The above reasons are all in favor of a missionary enter- 
prise at Togiak. 

Now I will state its disadvantages. 

a. Chief and foremost, is the lack of building material, 
and fuel. Building, however, will not cost any more 
than in the East, even if the lumber is shipped from 
San Francisco. I think that stone houses can be put 
up, as the mountains that come down to the water's 
edge are principally composed of rocks. Whether 
these stones can be used for building or not, I do not 
know, but it will be worth while to investigate the 
matter. As to fuel, there is an abundance of cotton- 
wood timber a short distance up the river, which can 
be cut and dried. This timber is eight and ten inches 
in diameter. Besides, I think there must be coal in 
the interior, as I understand there are traces of coal 



22 

found on the rivers that head on the mountains that 
divide the Togiak valley from the Kuskokwim. 
b. The other difficulty is one that Nushagak has to con- 
tend with, the opposition of the Greek Church. It is, 
however, too far moved from that station for this op- 
position to prevent a rapid progress of evangelistic 
work. 
These two are the only disadvantages that I know of. I 
have endeavored to give you a fair idea of this new plan for 
the extension of the Church's activity." 

In case this suggestion can not be carried out. Brother 
Kilbuck desires to have the working force at Bethel so in- 
creased that without disadvantage to this central station 
outposts may be occupied at a greater or less distance as 
filials, and more or less extensive evangelistic tours be un- 
dertaken up and down the Kuskokwim River. For the 
latter purpose a steam launch such as the Society at its last 
annual meeting took into consideration to send, would 
doubtless prove extremely useful. 

Such has been the commencement, and such is the pres- 
ent situation, of the Moravian Mission in Alaska. What 
Its future is destined to be, the Lord, Whose coming to 
reign over His rightful dominion His faithful servants are 
seeking to hasten, alone knows, concealed as it is in the 
sovereign mystery of His providential designs. This, how- 
ever, remains -certain : whatever that future. He will not put 
to shame the faith and fidelity of those who are in the field 
and of those who maintain them whilst "abiding by the 
staff" at home. To him be all the glory of success ! 



The control of the Moravian Mission in Alaska, belongs 
ultimately to the Department of Missions at Berthelsdorf, in 
Saxony, in accordance with the fundamental principle of 
the Moravian Church, that " the Brethren's Unity and the 
Brethren's Mission are inseparably connected, and that 
there will never be a Unity of the Brethren without a Mis- 
sion to the Heathen or a Mission of the Brethren which is 
not an affair of the whole Church." Yet the practical 



23 

management of this particular Mission, like that of the 
Moravian Mission among the Indians of North America, 
has been committed to the Provincial Elders' Conference 
of the northern division of the American Moravian Church, 
subject in matters of importance to the consent and ap- 
proval of the higher Board. In financial matters and af- 
fairs of external administration respecting Alaska, the Pro- 
vincial Elders' Conference is associated with the other 
members of the executive Board of the Society for Propa- 
gating the Gospel among the Heathen, which has its seat 
at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 

The expenses of the mission, of necessity heavy — owing 
to the long journeys, the need of sending provisions and 
other supplies from San Francisco each Summer for the 
succeeding year, and the clothing and boarding of the 
school children — have been met mainly by voluntary con- 
tributions on the part of members and friends of the Mo- 
ravian Church in America. These gifts have been promoted 
by the establishment, in various congregations of the Mora- 
vian Church in the same territory, of Alaska Societies 
Auxiliary to the Society for Propagating the Gospel. A 
number of Sewing Societies have also systematically les- 
sened the labor of the missionaries by their needle -work. 
In addition, comparatively small grants have been received 
from the U. S. Government in aid of the schools at Bethel 
and Carmel, which form a part of the public school system 
of the Territory. 

From its inception to July 31, 1889, the Mission has cost 
^27,234.86. Of this sum, ^19,273.28 have been met by- 
voluntary contributions. The grants from Government 
have amounted to $2,600. The remainder has been made 
up by appropriations from the interest of the funds of the 
Society for Propagating the Gospel, the rest of whose 
income is used for the support of Moravian Missions in 
general. 

Gifts, either of money or clothing or of useful articles or 
books, for the Moravian Mission in Alaska may be sent to, 
and will be thankfully received by the Treasurer, the Rev. 
Robt. de Schweinitz, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 



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